


Let's Dance

by azephirin



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Academy Era, Clubbing, Cohabitation, Dancing, Fade to Black, Other, Pre-Threesome, Rare Pairing, Starfleet Academy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-29
Updated: 2010-07-29
Packaged: 2017-10-10 20:48:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/104117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/azephirin/pseuds/azephirin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>If you say run, I'll run with you; if you say hide, we'll hide.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Let's Dance

**Author's Note:**

> I was looking through some of my old LJ entries and found one wherein [I was inveigling my flist to write me some Kirk/McCoy/OFC](http://azephirin.livejournal.com/149829.html). Sometimes the best way to get something written is just to write it yourself...but everyone should still feel free to write any and all Kirk/McCoy/Lady fic as might inspire them! Title and summary from "[Let's Dance](http://www.teenagewildlife.com/Albums/LD/LD.html)," by David Bowie.

Bones says that real men don’t dance, but that’s because Bones is a cranky bastard who hates fun. Jim, however, is not afraid to get out on the floor when one of his two best friends wants him there, which means that he gets to be happily sweaty with his hand on Mei-Zhen’s bare back, and Bones gets to sit at the bar and glare, because, again, he’s a cranky bastard who hates fun. Jim shares his theory with Mei-Zhen, who laughs in that way he loves to watch, quick and unrestrained, but then says, “I think he’s just shy.”

Jim scoffs. “Bones McCoy is not shy. Nobody shy would yell at people just because they, I don’t know, didn’t organize the tricorders the right way. Or,” he can’t help adding, “because maybe they were tired and left some socks on the floor.”

“Not that that’s ever happened,” Mei-Zhen says.

“I would never,” Jim says, eyes wide.

She snorts. “Should I not bring up the Great Boxer Incident?”

“That was one time!” Jim defends himself.

“One time that my sister will never forget, much as she might want to.”

Jim groans. He knows he’s turning red—stupid blond people for parents—but fortunately it’s dark enough that no one can see. “You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?”

Mei-Zhen pats his cheek. “No, because you blush so prettily whenever I mention it.”

“I hate you.”

Her expression is amused, but it grows thoughtful when she says, “A lot of shy people learn to cover it up. And he’s not exactly in a field where you can hesitate to speak your mind. But it’s one thing to be bossy or pushy in a professional situation, and another thing to be a little wary of shaking your thing with your roommates in front of half of San Francisco.”

Maybe it’s a little weird that they’re talking about this while basically grinding in the middle of a club, but after living together for a year—three late registrants a little older than average, thrown together because the Housing Committee didn’t know what else to do with them—they don’t have a lot of boundaries left. It’s no odder to have this conversation here than to have it back at the dorm with one of them in the shower, the other on the lid of the toilet, and Bones wandering in and out muttering about nonhumanoid exobiology and occasionally interjecting to tell them they’re both wrong.

Jim really kind of adores his roommates in ways he’s never going to say out loud. He pulls Mei-Zhen a little closer, and she _hmm_s happily, not missing a step. “So what are you implying?” he asks.

“Just that Leonard might not enjoy doing certain things in public.”

“But he might enjoy doing them in private?”

Jim likes Mei-Zhen’s mischievous smile almost as much as he likes her laugh. Actually, maybe it’s a tie. “We’ll never know until we ask.”

“Curiosity killed the cat,” Jim says, even though he’s always thought that was the stupidest saying ever. But he wants to see how Mei-Zhen will respond.

“Satisfaction brought it back,” she retorts, and slides her hands into his back pockets.

“You totally win,” Jim tells her, and when the song ends, he takes her hand to walk over to the recessed corner of the bar that Bones has staked out for himself. As private as you can get in a crowded place like this, Jim thinks, and it occurs to him that Mei-Zhen may be right. Well, they’ll see.

Bones doesn’t actually look all that growly, at least no more so than usual, and he even leans over like he’s going to hail the bartender for another round. But Jim puts two fingers over his lips—invoking a skyward eyebrow but, Jim notes, no actual protest. The song playing now is Andorian, something slow and sleek, and it’s the perfect backbeat as Jim’s hand moves leisurely across Bones’s jaw, down his throat (Bones swallows, and Jim has to stop himself from moving forward to lick his Adam’s apple), across Bones’s chest to draw the outlines of muscle in his shoulder and arm. Mei-Zhen is behind Bones, and Jim sees one arm wrap around him as her other hand strokes up and down his spine, half comforting, half enticing.

“What are you doing,” Bones whispers, low and hoarse, without the inflection of a question but—Jim is pretty sure—with all the meaning of one.

Mei-Zhen rests her head on the back of his shoulder, and Jim says, “We weren’t sure whether you didn’t want to dance with us at all, or whether you just didn’t want to dance with us in front of a bunch of other people.”

“Because if you don’t want to at all,” Mei-Zhen continues, “we won’t be offended.”

“Even though how you could turn down the two hottest roommates on campus is beyond me,” Jim interrupts; Bones laughs a little, and Mei-Zhen elbows Jim.

“But if it’s just a question of not wanting to do it in public,” she goes on, “that’s easy to fix.”

Jim takes Bones’s hand in his, and Mei-Zhen stays where she is, intimate and close but nothing that couldn’t be a hug between friends. If Jim were in her place, he wouldn’t be able to think about anything besides kissing the back of Bones’s neck, maybe sucking a little mark of possession onto his nape, and it occurs to Jim that maybe Mei-Zhen’s got her head down like that for a reason, because she wants the same thing. Maybe it’s as hard for her to stop herself as it would be for Jim.

“This isn’t for everybody to see,” Bones says after a moment. “I know we live in a universe where anybody can find out any damn thing. But some things should be private.”

Jim squeezes his hand, then lets it go; Mei-Zhen pulls back, too, but only after pressing her lips quickly (Jim was right, Jim was completely right) to the place where Bones’s hairline ends.

“Let’s go home, then,” Mei-Zhen says.

It’s private there, and quiet, and they dance for and with no one but each other.


End file.
